Ben was at the ceremony, held in Camden's famous Roundhouse venue in the British capital, as his 2015 film High Rise was nominated for the Best British Film award. The sci-fi thriller, which stars Tom Hiddleston, Sienna Miller and Luke Evans, lost out to I, Daniel Blake, but filmmaker Ben explained that just being nominated was a big boost for him.

"The Empire (Awards) are brilliant because it's kind of like the backstop for awards," he mused. "It's always good to be acknowledged for awards, and it's always good for Empire stuff because it's voted or by the readership, and that's more important in a way.

"It's the purest (awards show) in that respect."

High Rise star Tom was also in attendance, picking up the evening's Empire Hero award.